Letters to the editor: 12/30

Thank Incoronato, GOP for rising taxes

Right on schedule, Dutchess County Legislator Joe Incoronato has made his annual appeal to sell the Dutchess County Airport. His pitch to sell the airport this year comes just days after the 2014 county budget was approved by his Republican majority, with absolutely no support from his colleagues or from Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro. It follows, too, on the heels of a $750,000 award to the county wastewater authority for the express purpose of extending municipal water to the airport property. Is he serious?

But Mr. Incoronato doesn't stop there - this year he wants to sell Dutchess Stadium, too.

Again, where's the support from his Republican colleagues who run county government? What's next Joe, sell the rail trail?

One thing Mr. Incoronato can boast support for, however, is the imposition of the county's new energy tax. Incoronato and his friends were once the loudest voices when it came to raising taxes. Remember the MTA payroll tax? They couldn't have been louder in their opposition. But this Republican majority has fully evolved when it comes to taxes. Not only did they raise taxes, they found a new one to impose on everyone. Thanks to majority Republicans, Dutchess County becomes one of only 18 counties in New York state to charge a tax on electricity, fuel oil, propane, natural gas and even firewood.

You can look for the 3.75 percent tax to start showing up on your energy bills in March. When you see it, you'll know who to thank.

Roger Higgins

New Hamburg

Pope aims to draw people to Church

Vincent Ferro's recent letter has taken Pope Francis to task for his remarks about "obsessing over small minded rules on contraception, abortion and gay marriage" ("Pope's bad remarks defy Petrine office"). What Vincent fails to understand is that the past popes, after John XXIII, have been so small-minded and out of touch with the an evolving society, that they have been driving parishioners out of the Church. When religion fails to evolve with society, it dies.

John XXIII was a breath of fresh air and Vatican II was taking the church out of the Middle Ages and into modern society. Unfortunately, his reign was short-lived and the church regressed back to the Middle Ages.

Today's Catholics, for the most part, are loyal cultural Catholics, as traditions die slowly, but they are evolving as they learn the difference between metaphorical and literal interpretations of the Bible. Science and common sense have always been the enemy of religion. Today, most Catholics practice birth control and pretty much determine their own morality, based upon what best fits their personal lives. As long as they do no harm to others, they do not need the Church to micromanage their lives.

It is people like Vincent Ferro who drove me and most of my family and friends out of the Catholic Church. And guess what, we don't miss it! But then again, maybe Pope Francis can draw some of us back.

Roger A. Mann

Poughkeepsie

Don't gut social aid; prosecute cheats

Maury Povich is one of TV's most popular reality-show pimps and panderers. His ratings remain high because his favorite fetishes are giving paternity tests to deadbeat dads and polygraph tests to promiscuous cheaters.

But the show's true reality is that it's a window to our country's budget deficit and entitlement program issues under debate in Congress.

Maury's paternity topic is particularly relevant because it uncovers our overpopulation and an epidemic number of American women having children out of wedlock by multiple fathers. The more kids women pop out, the more government benefits they receive. The sperm donors (fathers) have no child support culpability. They can flit from flower to flower like a honeybee and populate the countryside without consequence. Meanwhile the mothers can collect social security, food stamps, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) checks, health insurance and other benefits from the cash-cow taxpayers.

China wisely limits the number of children a woman can have. We, however, continue to condone the unchecked and unpenalized sexual lifestyles of far too many people. This occurs largely in our lower economic population, but it's everywhere.

Republicans want to gut programs that are lifesaving for millions. What they should be doing is conscientiously weeding out people who are gaming the entitlement system to the detriment of the truly deserving.

Bob Fischer

Poughkeepsie

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Letters to the editor: 12/30

Right on schedule, Dutchess County Legislator Joe Incoronato has made his annual appeal to sell the Dutchess County Airport.

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